Postcard from Sydney

August 4, 2006by Atanu Dey

Hi from Sydney, Australia!

Got here on August 1st after a long and uninteresting flight from Mumbai via Bangkok. Sydney was deliciously cold when I arrived that night. The first two days were sunny but today it is raining. I am glad that I did not go to the US which is suffering from a serious heat wave. After the summer in India, it would have been silly of me to go to the next hot spot.

So for the next few weeks, I will work from Sydney. The last time I was here, exactly three years ago, I had traveled from San Francisco. Spent a week here then. Now I will be here longer and call it home for a bit. Being essentially homeless, whereever I unpack my suitcase is home for me. As they say in Hindi, dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka, na ghat ka. I am reminded of the words from a song by Neil Diamond which expresses the same sentiment:

LA’s fine, sunshine most of the time
And the feeling is laid back
Palm trees grow, rents are low
But you know what I keep thinking about?
Making my way back.
I’m New York city born and raised
Nowadays I’m lost between two shores
LA’s fine but it ain’t home
New York’s home but
It ain’t mine no more . . .
I am, I said . . .

I expect to get some serious thinking and quality work done here. I may throw in some site-seeing but for the most part, I will make some real progress on work. So until the next time, be well, do good work and keep in touch.

Hi Atanu,
I wonder how you can keep travelling round the world without a job. Are you economically free? If so great luck, I would rank economic freedom even higher than spiritual enlightenment.

http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~gadde/ gaddeswarup

Atanu,
Welcome to Australia. If you have a chance, visit Melbourne. We can discuss and you can see my first grandchild Leila. Notice that even in winter, Australia has a lot of flowers, particularly the ones from the native plants. I still have some roses and coriander in the garden. Regards,
Swarup